6 Comments

Just remind me that one : http://bit.ly/WzkBMY.
Both are good ideas, but in both you have to push buttons to show you’re going to turn.
Why not turn signals lighting with a frank nod on the side ?… In that case, you don’t need to think about pushing a button, just turning the head where you want to go. Just a thought.

I’d back a Kickstarter for something like this, but I agree with Johann, it needs a different method for activating the turn signals. Braking should be easily integrated with the existing brakes or “detected” with accelerometers.

I disagree about the turn signal buttons. The accelerometer-brakelight is a no-brainer and much more elegant solution than a button…. but for turn signals, I think a button is going to provide a better user experience. I’m very skeptical that an accelerometer could reliably detect subtle head nods to one side or the other, without also being triggered by road bumps and the normal side-to-side movement caused by the various types of pedaling and dismounting a person does throughout a ride. (My smartphone has a great accelerometer, but it’s constantly getting my screen orientation wrong… same deal.) The alternative is that it has to be a very aggressive head jerk to trigger the lights, and that sounds neither elegant nor fun.

A button is simple, effective, and reliable. Now, using accelerometer data to turn off the turn signals is a great idea, however, because that sort “turning, then, not turning” event would be much simpler to detect out of noisy accelerometer data .